1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly, to a display device having electronic album function and method thereof.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The function of Electronic album (or Electronic Photo Frame: EPF) is to substitute traditional paper albums by storing lots of photo frames in the memory device and displaying the stored photo frames when needed, thereby reading, writing, storing or displaying digital photo frames stored in the memory device or through data communication directly/indirectly with nearby peripherals such as Television (TV), Personal Computer (PC), Personal Data Assistant (PDA) and Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), etc. Moreover, the function of the electronic album is added to more and more display devices, which can be set to display video data captured from broadcasting programs, thumbnail images from internal/external memory devices, slides, or full screens.
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a traditional display device having electronic album function. An antenna (101) receives specific broadcasting signals in a tuned frequency range. The tuner/IF (102) demodulates IF signals from the received broadcasting signals. The switch (103) chooses one of the signals from the tuner/IF (102) and external devices. The tone controller (104) controls the tone of the audio signals from the signals chosen by the switch (103). The amp (105) amplifies the output of the tone controller (104) and sends the amplified signals to the speaker (106). The chroma processor (111) adjusts colors of the characters and icons of the signals from the switch (103) to be displayed on the display device. The power supply (107) provides powers to all elements of the device. The main controller (109) receives power from the power supply (107) and outputs a corresponding control signal according to an input from the remote control (108). The format converter (112) converts signals from the chroma processor (111) to displayable signals. The image amp (113) amplifies the signals from the format converter (112). The deflection controller (114) adjusts deflections of the amplified image signals from the image amp (113). The display (115) displays the inclined image signals from the deflection controller (114).
The EPF controller (118) checks whether there is a memory and reads stored image data from the memory (119) if any. The interface (116) transfers the image data from the memory (119) to the main controller (109) as well as requesting an interrupt to the main controller (109).
FIG. 2 is a flowchart for operating the traditional display device having electronic album function. First of all, when a user sends a command using a remote control (108), the power supply (107) provides powers to all elements of the device and the main controller (109) sends a control signal to the tuner/IF (102) to select a channel chosen by the user.
Now, operations of the traditional display device having electronic album function are explained. After a user turns on the display device (S101), the main controller checks if the user selects the electronic album function (S102). If the user selects the electronic album function while executing a regular operation (e.g., displaying broadcasting program) (S103), the main controller (109) displays a list of pictures read from the memory (119) (S104). It is recommended to display it as thumbnail images. The main controller checks if the user selects a certain picture (S105). If the user selects a picture, the main controller (109) loads the picture from the memory (119) (S106). Then, the controller (S10) checks if the loading is finished (S107). The controller displays the loaded picture on the display (S108). However, if the selected picture is not successfully loaded from the memory (119), the interface (116) periodically sends an interrupt signal to the main controller (109) (S109), thereby locking up the main controller (109) (S110).
The traditional display device having the electronic album function explained above checks whether there is a memory if the image data is not loaded within predetermined time. The controller recognizes it if there is actually no memory present. When it is totally impossible to read the image data from the memory even though there is a memory, the controller stops the reading operation realizing that the memory has a defect. But, when the controller cannot read the image data from the memory due to noise or cable vibration, etc., or the controller lost the image data due to the other commands from the user, the interface continuously sends an interrupt signal to the main controller (109) resulting lockup of the device.
Therefore, it is highly desired to develop a display device having an electronic album function which prevents from malfunctions such as the device lockup by sensing irregular interrupts, resets the corresponding element, and quickly restarts the device.